


Those Beautiful Hands, Coated in Blood

by bendingwind



Category: Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-11
Updated: 2010-07-11
Packaged: 2017-11-06 00:24:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/412677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bendingwind/pseuds/bendingwind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's in love with the worst of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Beautiful Hands, Coated in Blood

That delicate frame was never meant to sit in a throne; those beautiful eyes were never meant to look so empty. That mouth was never made to grin that twisted caricature of his smile, and those beautiful long-fingered hands were never meant to be coated in blood and ash.

Blood and thicker things drip like wine down the side of his golden throne, and it is because of her that he is there. She wanted the world, and he gave it to her. He is the savior of the universe, and he has claimed his dues.

The first man died in the library, shoved into a deadly coronet and ruthlessly destroyed by a man once called the Doctor, and that had been the beginning of it all. The rules of the Time Lords were not arbitrary, and the salvation of one already dead cost the last of them his soul.

“Love,” she whispers in his ear, leaning around his bloodstained throne, “this one hasn’t done anything. He has a famous gold bracelet that I want—take that and let him go.”

The dark man nods, and another prisoner is led away gratefully babbling thanks for his salvation. If only he knew that her death would have saved them all.

_You save a woman who was meant to die, you brush arms with a former incarnation of yourself, and you split the universe in two. You don’t go with the copy when the world diverges—instead you stay behind where you were never meant to be. Now there are two Time Lords, and it is the worst possible thing that ever could have happened, but you don’t see it. Your face is forever frozen, and a sick terrible joy like vomit swells in your heart. You are the Time Lord Victorious, and you are God._

The universe bows at his feet and the children pray to his image. If they believe enough, if they hope enough, he will surely save them from themselves. He stopped the disease ravaging Philos 5 _(they don’t know you left the planet with nothing but ash and silent skeletons)_ and he saved the beloved queen of the ЛψωѢ from certain insanity _(they don’t know you tortured her for daysweeksmonths until she was too frightened to scream when the nightmares came)._ Surely he will save them, if they shut their eyes and hope hard enough. He is still the Doctor to them _(they don’t know you are not the Doctor anymore, but an Executioner)._

He may be insane, they whisper on the corners of streets, but he’s the best hope we have. Did you hear that he can cure the Black Cold that killed all of Fiji-Ari?

And always by his side is a woman, a beautiful strong woman with perfect blonde curls and a glare that can make a sun freeze, and always she is whispering in his ear.

Worlds burn and galaxies sink into the crushing nothingness of black holes, _(and you lie and tell them that heaven lies on the other side, and of course they believe you)_ , and still they look to him for hope. He has saved/saves them/will save them, and they will never stop believing in him, because now _(they finally know what you have given up for their worthless stinking rotting hides)_ they know what he has done for them. He will attain immortality, and they will cheer. He will open the skies of Gallifrey once again _(and the part of you that isn’t quite mad hopes your family will still be there to run into your arms)_ and welcome the hatred and the destruction of the daleks. This time he will annihilate them and there will be no cost, because he is God and he can do anything he desires.

And River leans further around his throne of blood and bones and ruined planets, and whispers, _This is the you I love the most._

* * *


End file.
